Scientific research now has to be seen as financially profitable, and eventually scientists will have to be both academics and entrepreneurs
THE FACT THAT an economist rather than a scientist currently chairs an influential science advisory body to Government is perhaps a telling comment on the conduct of research in Ireland today. The financial downturn is forcing a much greater emphasis on the economic returns available from it, rather than the conduct of research for its own sake.
Dr Tom McCarthy took over the chair of the Advisory Council on Science, Technology and Innovation last month and should deliver a fillip for the Council. He is an economist and has spent 20 years as an academic at NUI Maynooth and more recently at Dublin City University. Unusually, however, he was a dean of research and graduate studies while at Maynooth and has done a fair amount of work on research prioritisation, deciding where the effort – and money – should go when it comes time to invest in research.
This experience, and his participation in the Technology Foresight Exercise back in the late 1990s, will serve him well in his role as chair of the Advisory Council. Already insights gained in the previous positions have started to inform recommendations coming from the Council, in particular the recent statement issued on Sustaining Investment in Research and Development.
The Council provides independent advice and a degree of objective oversight to Government as it seeks to implement science policy. “The Council must take a high-level view of what science, technology and innovation must do for the country and also consider how we are doing at accomplishing that,” he says.
“We are there to represent the citizens, not just to work for the Government,” he believes. The Council also must take congnisance of the other stake holders, for example the research scientists themselves.
“We have to support the role of science and technology in Irish society. Science matters to the public not just to the scientists,” he says. “It will play a critical role in Ireland’s future.”
The public perception of the continued Government investment in science is important, he believes, particularly given the economic slowdown.
“The question has been raised about the value of science and technology policy and whether this will deliver jobs,” he says.
This is why it is vitally important that stakeholders in this get out and explain why science and research are so very important for our economic future. “They will be the drivers of our future growth,” Dr McCarthy says. State support for research has been climbing steeply for 10 years and Dr McCarthy believes people should be aware that this targeted investment has delivered a much improved capacity for conducting good science. “It is important to recognise what we have achieved. It has added to the basic skills set of the population.”
This in turn makes Ireland an increasingly attractive target for foreign direct investment, something that creates jobs but also fosters knowledge-intensive collaborations.
The earlier investment allowed us to build up strong teams of researchers within the third level and this investment must continue, he says. “We have got to stick with the course on that.”
But now commercialisation of research must come to the fore, he believes, and to make gains we need to change the way we think. “Now we have got to get the mindset changed.”
Systems must be put in place to encourage scientists to think commercially when discoveries are made. He pictures a system that tolerates scientists moving back and forth between being academics and entrepreneurs.